Spanish Immersion Program

A dual language immersion program is a proven approach to educating children by surrounding them with a second language so they develop strong proficiency in that language while learning academic content.

Immersion programs are the fastest growing and most effective type of foreign language program currently available in U.S. schools. By enrolling your child in a Kindergarten immersion program, you’re giving them a strong start to becoming fluent in two languages, which will provide them with lifelong benefits both academically and personally. Immersion lays the groundwork for a future filled with academic success, career opportunities, and an expanded worldview.

Second language acquisition happens best when started at an early age. Therefore, at OCS, students may enter this program in Kindergarten or the first semester of first grade. The Spanish Immersion program begins in Kindergarten and extends through high school. Strategic curriculum shifts at pivotal points in the Spanish Immersion timetable ensure that students grow and learn in both Spanish and English.  

Stay positive and encouraging! Any child who can learn one language has the ability to learn multiple languages. The most important thing you can do is to read to your child in English. This does NOT mean that you teach your child to read in English. If you can commit to reading to them in English and exposing them to English in a variety of social settings, you can trust the immersion model will help your child become proficient at or above grade level in the immersion language and in English.

In a Spanish immersion classroom, teachers use language immersion techniques, language-rich activities, visual aids, and scaffolded instruction to support students in learning academic content in Spanish while gradually developing their language skills through consistent exposure and engagement in both languages.

Research consistently finds that the immersion experience actually enhances English language development. Throughout the language acquisition process, immersion students may read more fluently in one language than the other at times. This is a normal part of learning to read, and over time immersion students typically read at or above grade level in both languages.

Students in a language immersion program often times score higher on standardized reading tests in English than those who are only taught in one language. 

English instruction begins in 3rd grade. Until this point, students may seem behind their peers when comparing English reading or writing, but they are actually working at grade level in Spanish. They aren't actually behind when comparing their reading skills, they're just doing it in another language.

Once English instruction begins, students transfer the reading and writing skills they learned in Spanish to English (for example: reading left to right, paragraph, and sentence structure, reading comprehension strategies, etc.) English-specific skills that are not transferable from Spanish are addressed in 3rd-5th grade.

Students in the Spanish Immersion program are tested using nationally-normed assessments (NWEA MAP) in Spanish and English, and perform at or above grade-level expectations in reading, language, math, and science. Our pilot 5th grade class performed well on their Spanish proficiency testing, as well, scoring above expectations and showing great promise for their future as bilingual academics.

Students have also excelled in communicating with Spanish-speakers in our community and around the world. Parents report to us that they receive compliments on their students’ communication and pronunciation wherever they encounter Spanish-speakers!